Shadowing Practice: The Challenges of Cultural Diversity - Learn English Speaking with Video

In 2019, the World Health Organization estimated that there are about 1 billion migrants in the world, nearly 1 in 8 people.

This means that more than ever before, we live in societies made out of many cultures, and this diversity can be a beautiful thing.

In Australia, Harmony Day is celebrated on the 21st of March each year, and aims to grow inclusiveness, respect, and a sense of belonging for everyone.

But the very fact that this course needs to be fought for, implies that it's not something everyone naturally does.

Cultures can have very fundamental differences and this can lead to stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination.

I spoke in a previous video lesson about how stereotypes can be understood using the tri-component model of attitudes.

You can probably see how it can be applied to the way cultural groups perceive each other.

It's not difficult for prejudice to occur and how individuals might think

or feel about people in another group and this can lead to discrimination in their behavior.

However, some factors make prejudice more likely to happen.

For example, a cultural insensitivity or lack of awareness.

There are often cultural reasons why a person may choose not to eat a certain food or work on a certain day.

But if someone else didn't know that, they might assume that the person was being unnecessarily fussy or lazy.

Different cultures may also have different approaches to completing tasks or making decisions.

For example, in indigenous Australian culture, big decisions are only made after a majority has been reached in the clan.

This can be frustrating for someone who doesn't understand this cultural norm

and perhaps comes from a more individualistic culture where everyone makes their own decisions.

And finally differences in verbal and nonverbal communication styles can also result in potential conflict.

All this conflict and frustration that can arise due to these factors may result in the formation of stereotypes, which in turn may develop into prejudice.

When it comes to issues of cultural diversity, this prejudice may be expressed as xenophobia, ethnocentrism, and racism.

Let's look at each of those.

Xenophobia can be described as the fear of or strong animosity towards people of different races or cultural backgrounds.

For some people, this is a default position.

They're often really just afraid of the impact

that the foreign cultural ideals might have on the status quo in the majority culture.

However, this ends up leading to an immediate distrust of any culture apart from their own.

Ethnocentrism is another expression of this.

The belief that your own ethnicity or culture is superior to all the others.

This can be used to justify excluding other cultures into society or wanting to stop immigrants altogether.

And finally, racism, which are negative emotions or actions towards someone simply based on their race.

It's similar to ethnocentrism in that there's the belief that one's own race is the most superior. In 2018, a manager at Starbucks in the United States called the police

on two African American men in her store who were waiting for their friend to arrive for a meeting.

She will later argue that they hadn't bought anything and were just sitting in the store, But the two men ended up getting arrested by the police and removed, although they ended up not being charged with anything.

There were other customers who filmed the event and told the media that they had not bought anything either, but had not been asked to leave.

Even if there were various factors at play, one of them was almost definitely the race of the two men.

The woman might argue that she wasn't trying to be a racist, but racism can be expressed in different ways.

Again, from a previous lesson, we saw that the attitudes that people hold can be explicit or implicit, visible or unseen.

Explicit racism is easy to spot and unfortunately still very present in our world today.

It's blatant discrimination against a group of people based solely on their race.

Examples of explicit racism include the actions of hate groups such as neo-nazis and white nationalists, racial slurs or derogatory terms,

or when people openly talk negatively about particular cultural groups.

Political parties can also express racist policies and openly attack certain cultures.

But implicit racism is harder to detect because it's often unconscious or concealed.

However, it still ends up impacting the judgments and decisions that people make towards people from different cultures or ethnic groups.

The Starbucks manager may have acted the way she did out of implicit racism.

Other examples include police pulling drivers over due to the color of their skin, people mistrusting those who look different from them,

juries being more likely to pronounce the suspect as guilty based on their race, and more.

A month after the incident, Starbucks closed all 8,000 of the US stores for four hours to conduct training specifically aimed at reducing implicit racism

and indeed implicit bias of any kind.

Stores in Canada followed suit not long after.

But was that enough?

Many experts suggest that racism is embedded far deeper than a single workshop can reveal.

A continued effort must be made if we're to address racism, both explicit and implicit, as one of the main challenges that cultural diversity presents.

Is it possible for Harmony Day to be every day?

We may not know, but it's definitely worth trying.

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What You'll Learn

This video builds key speaking skills for navigating complex topics like cultural diversity, critical for IELTS speaking practice and real-world communication. You’ll learn to explain abstract concepts—like xenophobia or implicit bias—with clear examples, a skill that impresses examiners and listeners alike. Additionally, you’ll practice structuring arguments by connecting causes (e.g., cultural insensitivity) to effects (e.g., stereotypes), which strengthens coherence in your speech. Finally, the video models how to use academic vocabulary (e.g., "ethnocentrism," "explicit racism") naturally, helping you expand your lexical range for formal discussions.

Listen For These Sounds

The speaker uses connected speech and reductions that are common in fluent English. Notice how "there are" becomes "there’re" in phrases like "there’re often cultural reasons," and how "didn’t know" links to "didn’know" to maintain rhythm. Also, listen for the schwa sound in unstressed syllables, such as in "inclusiveness" (in-CLU-siv-ness) and "discrimination" (dis-CRIM-i-nay-shun). These reductions and linking patterns are essential to master for shadowing technique, as they help you sound more natural when repeating the dialogue.

Say It Like a Native

To mirror the speaker’s rhythm, focus on stressing key terms that carry meaning. For example, in "big decisions are only made after a majority," stress "big," "only," and "majority" to emphasize the cultural norm. The speaker also uses pauses before introducing examples (e.g., "For example, in indigenous Australian culture…"), which you can mimic to create clarity. When practicing shadowspeak or shadow speech, pay attention to the rise and fall of intonation in questions and explanations—this helps convey emphasis and engagement. Finally, mimic the speaker’s calm, analytical tone, which is ideal for discussing serious topics like racism, as it builds credibility and ensures your message is heard.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	is celebrated · be fought · can be understood
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	someone who doesn · racism, which are · those who look

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

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